SXSW returns to festivities after deadly hit-and-run

Mar. 14, 2014
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Rashad Charjuan Owens, the driver who smashed his car through a barrier and into a street thronged with attendees of the South By Southwest festival, has been charged with capital murder. / Austin Police Department via AP

by Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

by Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

AUSTIN â?? The South By Southwest music conference and festival was supposed to be Rashad Charjuan Owens' gateway to fame.

Instead, the 21-year-old aspiring rapper sits in jail, accused of enacting one of the darkest moments in the festival's 27-year history. Police say Owens, evading police, barreled a car down a street crowded with revelers early Thursday, killing two and sending 23 others to area hospitals.

A police affidavit for his arrest shows that Owens was given a Breathalyzer test at the scene and had a blood-alcohol level of .114, higher than the Texas' legal limit. In the affidavit, Owens tells investigators he became alarmed when a police officer pulled up behind him after he committed a traffic violation because he has outstanding kidnapping warrants. He's in a custody battle over his daughter, Owens told the interviewer.

By Friday afternoon, nine of the victims remained hospitalized, including two still in critical condition.

"We're just trying to move forward," said Anton Murray, an Austin Police Department spokesman. "Everything seems to be returning to normal."

Indeed, the festival continued with no cancellations Friday, as attendees lined up for afternoon shows at downtown clubs or filed into the Austin Convention Center to catch a keynote speech by Lady Gaga.

Owens was supposed to be part of that reveling. Lamar Wilson, Owen's brother, said he and his brother had driven to Austin from Killeen, Texas, to try to get Owen's budding rap career noticed. Owen was scheduled to go on stage at 1 a.m. Thursday at Club 1808 in East Austin.

"He was going to go down there, sell mixed tapes, network, come back home," Wilson said in an interview with WFAA-TV Dallas.

Instead, Austin Police say that about a half-hour before he was scheduled to perform, a police officer tried to pull over Owens in a car he was driving for a routine traffic stop near Interstate 35 and East Ninth Street. Owens fled through a gas station, drove the wrong way down Ninth Street, crashed through a barricade and barreled up Red River Street, which had been closed to traffic and milling with festival-goers.

Witnesses recalled seeing bodies flying over the runaway car, as it clipped pedestrians and continued up to 11th Street, where it hit a moped, taxicab and bicyclist before hopping a sidewalk and striking a van, according to a police report. Owens tried to flee on foot, but police officers tased and arrested him. Officers on the scene suspected Owens may have been drinking, but toxicology reports have not been finalized, Murray said.

Steven Craenmehr, 35, a Dutch branding specialist and musician, and Austin resident Jamie West, 27, were both killed in the incident. Owens faces two counts of capital murder and multiple counts of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle.

At a news conference Thursday, Acevedo said he encouraged organizers to push on with the nine-day festival, which is expected to draw more than 70,000 people to music, film technology and education programs, as well as scores of events around town.

"We can't let one individual ruin this great event," he said.

SXSW managing director Roland Swenson said organizers were "stunned" by the tragedy but most programs would take place as planned. "We feel an obligation to the people who have traveled here from all around the world to keep going with the event," he said.

For the most part, club owners and festival-goers heeded that advice. On Thursday night, more than 2,000 fans showed up to see Lady Gaga perform at Stubbs BBQ, a block away from where the incident occurred. The performer dedicated one of her songs to the victims of the hit-and-run.

Cheer Up Charlie's and Mohawk, the two Red River Street nightclubs near where most of the injuries occurred, canceled day shows Thursday but reopened again that evening. On Friday, new lines formed before noon in front of Mohawk.

"It was kind of a freak incident," said Nate Dorough, 34, a concert promoter from Michigan, as he waited his turn to enter. "I think the people who were injured would want folks to go out and enjoy themselves."